Mary Mother of GOD June 12 - Mary Queen of China (Shanghai, 1924)
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
June is the month of the Sacred Heart since 1873;
 2022
22,600  Lives Saved Since 2007

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

We are the defenders of true freedom.
  May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.
  Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world

It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa
 Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'

"Man Needs Eternity -- and Every Other Hope, for Him, Is All Too Brief"
It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD 
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel

Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List
Joyful Mystery on Monday Saturday   Glorius Mystery on Sunday Wednesday
   Sorrowful Mystery Friday Tuesday   Luminous Mystery on Thursday Veterens of War

Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?

Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary.

Let us relieve the poverty of those that beg of us and let us not be over-exact about it.
-- St. John Chrysostom


Mary, Mother of Jesus  June 12 - Apparition of Our Lady to Saint Herman (France, 13th C.)

Mary, Mother of Jesus, give me your heart, so beautiful, so pure, so immaculate,
that I may be able to receive Jesus in the Bread of Life, love Him as you loved Him
in the distressing disguise of the poorest of poor.
Amen.

67 St. Ampliatus Bishop martyr, mentioned by St. Paul with Sts. Narcissus and Urban bishop, join St. Andrew mission in Balkans.
4th v. St. Amphion Bishop defender of the faith, praised by St. Athanasius bishop of Epiphania, Cicilia and bishop of Nicomedia when Arians began to spread their heresy attended Council of Nicaea in 325.
343 St. Olympius Bishop of Enos, Rumelia, dedicated foe of  Arianism heresy; endured persecution, removal from his see, by Arian Emperor Constantius II. defended St. Athanasius opponent of Arianism,
683  Pope St. Leo II  God restored his eyes and his tongue after they had been torn out by impious men.
734  St. Peter of Mount Athos first hermit to reside on Mount Athos; St Simeon touched his staff to the chains binding St Peter, and the chains melted away like wax.
816 Pope Leo III, On Christmas Day Leo crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in Saint Peter's Basilica. beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, affected European history for many centuries
1138 St. Christian Bishop brother of St. Malachy of Armagh. Celtic name was Croistan O'Morgair,
1298 Blessed Jolenta (Yolanda) of Poland daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary. sister, St. Kunigunde miracles, still occur at her grave
1447 Saint Arsenius of Konevits a native of Novgorod, coppersmith by trade tonsure at the Lisich monastery near Novgorod, where he spent eleven years went to Mount Athos in 1373, and  there he spent three years, dwelling in prayer and making copper vessels for the brethren.  In the year 1393, St Arsenius returned to Russia and brought with him an icon of the Mother of God, which was later called the Konevits Icon. St Arsenius went with this icon to the island of Konevets on Lake Ladoga, where he spent five years in solitude.
1626 Blessed Louis Naisen 7 year old Japanese boy, son of Blessed John and Monica Naisen. beheaded in Nagasaki  M (AC)
1971 Blessed Manuel Lozano Garrido, Spanish layman, beatified Sat 12, 2010 June in Linares, Spain.

June 12 – Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus –
Mary proclaimed Queen of China in Zikawei (Shanghai) in 1924 
 
China is officially consecrated to the Virgin Mary   
In the heart of Catholic China, the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians of Zo-se, Apostolic Vicariate of Nanjing (Shanghai), is of national importance.
A missionary in 1844, noticing a Buddhist temple in ruins, was inspired to build a shrine there in honor of the Virgin Mary. His dream came true in 1867 and soon Christians came there on pilgrimage.
It was at this shrine that the apostolic delegate in China, in union with all the bishops and priests of that land, came to officially consecrate China to the Virgin in 1924.
After the military victory of Mao-tse-tung, the shrine was desecrated and remained closed for twenty years.
But the courage of over thirty thousand pilgrims put an end to that situation.
In 1978, between March 15 - 17, pilgrims entered the ruined shrine and placed a small statue of the Blessed Virgin there. The authorities were unable to intervene, because the action took place peacefully. Thus reopened for worship, the shrine was entrusted to the priests of the national Church, then separated from Rome, who later brought a statue of Mary Help of Christians from Turin in 1990.

Attilio GALLI
Dans Madre della Chiesa dei Cinque continenti, Ed. Segno, Udine, 1997


June 12 - Mary Queen of China (Shanghai, 1924)      Let Us Make Reparation (II)
Pope John Paul II's also spoke of offering reparation or consoling the Divine Heart at the beatification of Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marto, in Fatima on 13 May 2000: 
 "According to the divine plan, 'a woman clothed with the sun' (Rv 12:1) came down from heaven to this earth to visit the privileged children of the Father. She speaks to them with a mother's voice and heart: she asks them to offer themselves as victims of reparation, saying that she was ready to lead them safely to God." (...) 
"Francisco bore without complaining the great sufferings caused by the illness from which he died.
It all seemed to him so little to console Jesus: he died with a smile on his lips.
Little Francisco had a great desire to atone for the offences of sinners
by striving to be good and by offering his sacrifices and prayers.
The life of Jacinta, his younger sister by almost two years, was motivated by these same sentiments." (...)
"My last words are for the children: dear boys and girls, I see so many of you dressed like Francisco and Jacinta.
You look very nice! But in a little while or tomorrow you will take these clothes off and...the little shepherds will disappear.
They should not disappear, should they?!
Our Lady needs you all to console Jesus, who is sad because of the bad things done to Him;
He needs your prayers and your sacrifices for sinners."

Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).

Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.


67 St. Ampliatus Bishop and martyr, mentioned by St. Paul with Sts. Narcissus and Urban bishop, joining St. Andrew in missionary labors in the Balkans.
4th v. St. Amphion Bishop defender of the faith, praised by St. Athanasius bishop of Epiphania, Cicilia and then the bishop of Nicomedia when Arians began to spread their heresy. He also attended the Council of Nicaea in 325.
3rd V.-end  Sts Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor, and Nazarius all soldiers martyrs At Rome, on the Aurelian Way
304? St. Antonina, martyred At Nicaea in Bithynia
 325 Amphion of Cilicia "an excellent confessor..." bishop of Epiphania, Cilicia attended the Council of Nicaea as member of the Catholic party. Elected to see of Nicomedia. Saint Athanasius commended Amphion's writings
343 St. Olympius Bishop of Enos, Rumelia, dedicated foe of 
Arianism heresy; endured persecution, including removal from his see, by Arian Emperor Constantius II. defended St. Athanasius opponent of Arianism,
400?St.  sancti Onúphrii Anachorétæ In Ægypto
4th v. Saint John the Hermit lived in Egypt is mentioned in the Life of St Onuphrius.
6th v. St. Ternan Missionary and bishop a disciple of St. Palladius missionary bishop among the Picts in Scotland
 599 St. Cominus Baithen Mor; Baithen the Great; Comin; Cominus Patron saint of Ardcavan, Ireland, abbot Part of Saint Columba's mission to Britain in 563
683  Pope St. Leo II At Rome, in the Vatican basilica, to whom God miraculously restored his eyes and his tongue after they had been torn out by impious men.
7th v. St. Cuniald & Geslar Confessors
734  St. Peter of Mount Athos first hermit to reside upon Mount Athos in northern Greece; St Simeon touched his staff to the chains binding St Peter, and the chains melted away like wax.   Graced with a vision from Our Lady, he journeyed to Mount Athos and took up the life of a hermit, remaining there for half a century
816 Pope Leo III, On Christmas Day Leo crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in Saint Peter's Basilica. This was the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, an attempt to realize Saint Augustine's ideal of the City of God, which profoundly affected European history for many centuries
  855 St. Odulf Augustinian canon established a church among the Frisians and founded a monastery at Stavoren
  885 St. Gerebald Bishop of Chalons sur Seine, France, from 864 until his death.
10th v. Saint John-Tornike Eristavi (a Georgian title, meaning literally “head of the army.” a perfect example of
humility. He renounced his own will completely and would do nothing without a blessing from his spiritual father “I entrust myself and my will to you. Save me according to your will!”
1080 Eskil (Eskill) bishop of Strangnäss remains exposed to veneration of faithful,  honored with miracles BM (AC)
1138 St. Christian Bishop and brother of St. Malachy of Armagh. His Celtic name was Croistan O'Morgair, Christian was named the bishop of Clogher, in Ireland 1126.
1175 St. Marinus, Vimius, & Zimius The “Three Holy Exiles’ They were Benedictines at the Scottish St. James Abbey in Regensburg, Germany. They became hermits at Griestatten.
1298 Blessed Jolenta (Yolanda) of Poland daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary. Her sister, St. Kunigunde miracles, down to our own day, occur at her grave
1447 Saint Arsenius of Konevits a native of Novgorod, coppersmith by trade tonsure at the Lisich monastery near Novgorod, where he spent eleven years went to Mount Athos in 1373, and  there he spent three years, dwelling in prayer and making copper vessels for the brethren.  In the year 1393, St Arsenius returned to Russia and brought with him an icon of the Mother of God, which was later called the Konevits Icon. St Arsenius went with this icon to the island of Konevets on Lake Ladoga, where he spent five years in solitude.

1450 Bd Stephen Bandelli;
doctor of canon law, University of Pavia professor, honoured as saint and wonder-worker;
1463 St. John of Sahagun educated by the Benedictine monks of Fagondez monastery there and when twenty, received canonry from bishop of Burgos; granted to behold with bodily eyes the human form of our Lord at the momen of consecration; Augustinian friar famous for his miracles, had the gift of reading men's souls; St. John of St.
Facundus, confessor of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, who died on the 11th of June.

 1542 Monk Stephen of Ozersk and Komel'sk led a strict life granted to see the MostHoly Virgin and Saint Nicholas, who besought the Mother of God to bless Saint Stephen to establish a monastery. In the year 1534 the Monk Stephen built a church in the name of Saint Nicholas
1592 Saint Onuphrius of Mala and Pskov [Izborsk] founded a monastery in honor of the Nativity of the Mother of God at Mala, four versts from Izborsk and 56 versts from Pskov
1626 Blessed Louis Naisen a seven year old Japanese boy, son of Blessed John and Monica Naisen. He was beheaded in Nagasaki (Benedictines). M (AC)
1650 Anna of Kashin died Oct. 2, 1338. The Holy Right-Believing Princess; solemn transfer of relics from wooden Dormition cathedral into stone Resurrection church June 12, 1650; many miracles took place at her tomb
1894 St. Cunera A British virgin venerated in Germany.
“The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” Exposition of the Orthodox Faith
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh,
was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.


67 St. Ampliatus Bishop and martyr, mentioned by St. Paul with Sts. Narcissus and Urban bishop, joining St. Andrew in missionary labors in the Balkans.
Ampliatus was martyred there with Sts. Narcissus and Urban. They were slain by Jews and Gentiles for the Gospel of Christ: Romans, 16, 8, 9, 11.
Romæ, via Aurélia, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Basílidis, Cyríni, Náboris et Nazárii militum, qui, in persecutióne Diocletiáni et Maximiáni, sub Aurélio Præfécto, ob Christiáni nóminis confessiónem, detrúsi in cárcerem et scorpiónibus laceráti, tandem cápite truncáti sunt.
    Sts Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor, and Nazarius all soldiers martyrs At Rome, on the Aurelian Way, during the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, and under the prefect Aurelius, the birthday of the holy martyrs Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor, and Nazarius, all soldiers who were cast into prison for the confession of the Christian name, scourged with knotted whips, and finally beheaded.
Nicǽæ, in Bithynia, sanctæ Antonínæ Mártyris, quæ, in eádem persecutióne, a Priscilliáno Præside jussa est fústibus cædi, suspéndi in equúleo, latéribus laniári et flammis incéndi, ac demum gládio necári.
Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor, and Nazarius MM (RM)
3rd V-end . Ss. Basilides And His Companions, Martyrs
Seeing that SS. Basilides, Quirinus (or Cyrinus), Nabor and Nazarius are com­memorated this day in the Roman calendar as well as in the martyrology, and that collects in their honour form part of the liturgy of the Mass wherever the Roman rite is followed, they cannot be passed over in silence in such a work as the present. But the reputed “acts” of this group of four are altogether spurious. The Cyrinus is probably no other than the Quirinus who has already been discussed on June 4. The whole story seems to have arisen out of a confusion of names in the Hieronymianum, and to have been invented afterwards to explain the occurrence of these names together. The combination is also found in certain early manu­scripts of the Sacramentarium Gelasianum, and in the calendar of Fronto. Three different “passions” exist, in one of which Basilides appears alone, and so far as the fact of his martyrdom is concerned, and his burial near the fourth milestone on the Via Aurelia, we are probably on safe ground. If the mention of Nabor and Nazarius has any reference to the cult of genuine martyrs, these probably belong to Milan but the whole tangle is too intricate to admit of any certain solution.
Three separate sets of alleged "acts" of St Basilides and companions have been printed by the Bollandists in the third volume for June of the Acta Sanctorum. The most satis­factory discussion of the problem is probably that of Delehaye, in his CMH., pp. 315—316 but see also J. P. Kirsch, Der stadtrömische Christliche Festkalender (1924), pp. 60—63.

Roman Martyrology contains this laus: "At Rome on the Aurelian Way, the birthday of the holy martyrs Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor, and Nazarius, soldiers who were cast into prison in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, under the prefect Aurelius for confession of the Christian name, scourged with scorpions and beheaded." The quartet is mentioned in the sacramentaries of Pope Saint Gelasius and Saint Gregory the Great as interred on the Aurelian road. Their unreliable acta states that they were four soldiers in the army of Maxentius.

It seems, however, more likely that this group is the result of a confusion of names in the martyrologies. Basilides is probably the Roman martyr of June 10, who died in the late 3rd century; Cyrinus (Quirinus), the martyr of June 4; and Nabor and Nazarius, two Milanese martyrs of whom nothing reliable is known. All four were venerated together on June 12 until 1969, when their feast was suppressed because of this confusion.
In 756, Saint Chrodegang, bishop of Metz procured the relics of several martyrs from Rome. He placed those of Nazarius in the abbey of Lorch in the diocese of Worms and those of Nabor in that of Saint Hilary (now corrupted to Saint Avol's) in the diocese of Metz (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).
St. Antonina, martyred At Nicaea in Bithynia,  She was scourged by order of the governor Priscillian during the same persecution, then racked, lacerated, exposed to the fire, and finally put to the sword.
Nicǽæ, in Bithynia, sanctæ Antonínæ Mártyris, quæ, in eádem persecutióne, a Priscilliáno Præside jussa est fústibus cædi, suspéndi in equúleo, latéribus laniári et flammis incéndi, ac demum gládio necári.
    At Nicaea in Bithynia, St. Antonina, martyr.  She was scourged by order of the governor Priscillian during the same persecution, then racked, lacerated, exposed to the fire, and finally put to the sword.
304? St Antonina, Martyr
The St Antonina who is commemorated on this day in the Roman Martyrology was a woman who is said to have suffered martyrdom under the governor Priscillian during the persecution of Diocletian. She is thought to be identical with the saint or saints of the same name also honoured in the Roman Martyrology on March 1 and May 4. That she was cruelly tortured seems certain, but the mode of her death is doubtful. According to one account, she was suspended by an arm for three days, then imprisoned, and finally burnt at the stake; according to another she was stretched on the iron horse, her sides were torn with combs, and she was slain with the sword; whilst a third tradition relates that after suffering many torments she was placed in a sack or a cask and thrown into a marsh. Her head is supposed to have been taken to Prague in 1673. Whereas the Greek Menaion claims her as a martyr of Nicaea (Cea) in Bithynia, the Spaniards have adopted her as a virgin saint of Ceja in Galicia, and the Aegean islanders as belonging to the island of Cea. Actually she may have suffered at Nicomedia, for that is the city mentioned in the ancient Syriac Breviarium, though here we find a man, Antoninus, net Antonina. But the Greek synaxaries are agreed in retaining the feminine form, and they also keep to Nicaea, and to the name Priscillian as that of the governor. It is curious that in the case of a martyr so obscure, for whom no formal passio is forthcoming, the Hieronymianum supplies an abundance of detail, rarely met with in other entries.

The question is discussed very fully by Delehaye, in his CMH., p. 229. - See also the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxx (1911), p. 165; and the Constantinople Synaxary (ed. Delehaye), cc. 500 and 746.
325 Amphion of Cilicia "an excellent confessor ..." bishop of Epiphania, Cilicia attended the Council of Nicaea as a member of the Catholic party. He was elected to the see of Nicomedia. Saint Athanasius commended Amphion's writings B (RM)
Amphion is described in the Roman Martyrology as "an excellent confessor in the time of Galerius Maximian." He was then bishop of Epiphania, Cilicia. Amphion attended the Council of Nicaea as a member of the Catholic party. He was elected to the see of Nicomedia. Saint Athanasius commended Amphion's writings (Benedictines).
343  St. Olympius Bishop of Enos, in Rumelia, he was a dedicated foe of the heresy of Arianism and endured persecution, including removal from his see, by the Arian Emperor Constantius II. Olympius also defended another opponent of Arianism, St. Athanasius
In Thrácia sancti Olympii Epíscopi, qui, ab Ariánis sede pulsus, Conféssor occúbuit.
    In Thrace, St. Olumpius, a bishop, who was driven out of his diocese by the Arians, and died a confessor.
Olympius of Enos B (RM) Bishop Olympius of Enos (Aenos) in Rumelia was a contemporary of Saint Athanasius. For his opposition to Arianism he was deposed by the Emperor Constantius (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
4th  v. St. Amphion Bishop defender of the faith, praised by St. Athanasius bishop of Epiphania, Cicilia and then the bishop of Nicomedia when Arians began to spread their heresy. He also attended the Council of Nicaea in 325.
In Cilícia sancti Amphiónis Epíscopi, qui, témpore Galérii Maximiáni, Conféssor fuit egrégius.
    In Cilicia, Bishop St. Amphion, a celebrated confessor of the time of Galerius Maximian.
4th v. Saint John the Hermit lived in Egypt is mentioned in the Life of St Onuphrius.
After he had buried St Onuphrius, St Paphnutius came upon an oasis which impressed him with its beauty and abundance of fruit-bearing trees. Four youths inhabiting this place came to him from out of the wilderness. The youths told Abba Paphnutius that in their childhood they had lived in the city of Oxyrhynchus (Upper Thebaid) and they had studied together. They had burned with the desire to devote their lives to God. Making their plans to go off into the desert, the young men left the city and after several days' journey, they reached this place.
A man radiant with heavenly glory met them and led them to a desert Elder. "We have lived here six years already," said the youths. "Our Elder dwelt here one year and then he died. Now we live here alone, we eat the fruit of the trees, and we have water from a spring." The youths gave him their names, they were Sts John, Andrew, Heraclemon and Theophilus (Dec. 2).
The youths struggled separately the whole week long, but on Saturday and Sunday they gathered at the oasis and offered up common prayer. On these days an angel would appear and commune them with the Holy Mysteries. This time however, for Abba Paphnutius' sake, they did not go off into the desert, but spent the whole week together at prayer.
On the following Saturday and Sunday St Paphnutius together with the youths was granted to receive the Holy Mysteries from the hands of the angel and to hear these words,
"Receive the Imperishable Food, unending bliss and life eternal, the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, our God."

St Paphnutius made bold to ask the angel for permission to remain in the desert to the end of his days. The angel replied that God had decreed another path for him. He was to return to Egypt and tell the Christians of the life of the desert-dwellers.
Having bid farewell to the youths, St Paphnutius reached the edge of the wilderness after a three day journey. Here he found a small skete, and the brethren received him with love. Abba Paphnutius related everything that he had learned about the holy Fathers whom he had encountered in the desert. The brethren wrote a detailed account of what St Paphnutius said, and deposited it in the church, where all who wished to do so could read it. St Paphnutius gave thanks to God, Who had granted him to learn about the exalted lives of the hermits of the Thebaid, and he returned to his own monastery.
St John is also commemorated on December 2
6th v. St. Ternan Missionary and bishop a disciple of St. Palladius missionary bishop among the Picts in Scotland

5th Or 6th V. St Ternan, Bishop
It is tolerably certain that St Ternan was actively employed in the conversion of the Picts and was one of their earliest bishops, but the accounts of him that have come down to us are so confused and conflicting that it is hopeless to attempt to reconstruct his history. Even his date and nationality are disputed. According to one tradition, he had been for many years a monk in the monastery of Culross, whilst the Aberdeen Breviary states that he was a native of the Scottish province of the Mearns, and that he received baptism from St Palladius, whose disciple he was. A gloss upon the Félire of Oengus declares indeed that he was identical with Palladius. Perhaps he was consecrated a bishop in succession to St Ninian by Palladius in 432, or he may have received his commission directly from Rome, which he is said to have visited. He appears to have had his headquarters at Abernethy—the capital of the Pictish kings—and to have died there. His body, however, was buried and venerated at Liconium, or Banchory Ternan as it came to be called. About the year 1530 the compiler of the Aberdeen Breviary saw St Ternan’s skull at Banchory. A bell which is supposed miraculously to have followed the saint from Rome was also preserved there until the Reformation. Some of the saint’s relics were venerated in Aberdeen cathedral, which is thought to have been originally dedicated to him; several churches and chapels in that part of Scotland actually bore or bear his name. His cultus spread to Ireland and his name appears on this day in the Félire of Oengus and in other old Irish calendars, but there is no reliable evidence of his having even visited the island.

An account of St Ternan is given in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii, but it is not wonderful that Father Papebroch, with the limited sources at his disposal, was unable to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion. Things are not much better even now, but the reader should consult Forbes, KSS., pp. 450—451, and also W. Douglas Simpson’s booklets, The Origins of Christianity in Aberdeenshire (1925), The Historical St Columba (1927) and On Certain Saints and Professor Watson (1928).
Sometimes called Torannan. According to tradition, he was a disciple of St. Palladius. He worked for many as a missionary bishop among the Picts in Scotland and he is honored as the founder of the abbey of Culross, in Fifeshire, where he died. Bishop of the Picts, flourished in the sixth century.
Much obscurity attaches to his history, and it is difficult to reconcile his chronology as given by various writers. Some say that he was consecrated by St. Palladius in 440, others that he was a monk of Culross in Fife, one of the monasteries founded by St. Serf, or Servan, the tutor of St. Kentigern. The Picts were not converted till about 570, by the zeal of St. Columba. St. Kentigern died in 603, and St. Serf of Culross died in 583 (feast 1 July). It is safe to assert that St. Ternan was a contemporary of St. Serf. In the "Aberdeen Martyrology" there is mention of "the Gospel of Matthew belonging to St. Ternan", which was enshrined in a metal case or cumdach (book shrine), covered with silver and gold, after the Irish fashion." He must not be confounded with St. Trumwine.
Sancti Joánnis a sancto Facúndo, ex Eremitárum sancti Augustíni Ordine, Confessóris, qui migrávit in cælum prídie hujus diéi.
    St. John of St. Facundus, confessor of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, who died on the 11th of June. 
Onúphrii Anachorétæ In Ægypto sancti , qui in vasta erémo sexagínta annis vitam religióse perégit, et, magnis virtútibus ac méritis clarus, migrávit in cælum.  Ipsíus vero insígnia gesta Paphnútius Abbas conscrípsit.
   Onuphrius, an anchoret In Egypt, St. , who for sixty years led a religious life in the desert, and renowned for great virtues and merits departed for heaven.  His admirable deeds have been recorded by Abbot Paphnutius.
Onuphrios Orthodoxe Kirche: 12. Juni
Onuphrios gehört zu einer Gruppe von Einsiedlern, die im 4. Jahrhundert in der Thebais in Ägypten lebten und über die der Mönch Paphnutios Viten geschrieben hat. Nach diesem Bericht lebte Onuphrios, als Paphnutios auf ihn stieß bereits 60 Jahre alleine in der Wüste. Ein Baum, der vor seiner Höhle gewachsen war, versorgte ihn mit verschiedenen Früchten und spendete ihm Schatten. Samstags kam ein Engel, brachte Onuphrios die Kommunion und unterhielt sich bis Sonntags mit ihm. Onuphrios starb, nachdem er Paphnutios seine Lebensgeschichte erzählt hatte und wurde von ihm begraben.
400 St Onuphrius
Amongst
the many hermits in the Egyptian desert during the fourth and fifth centuries was a holy man called Onuphrius. The little that is known of him is derived from an account attributed to a certain Abbot Paphnutius of a series of visits paid by him to some of the hermits of the Thebaid. This account seems to have been committed to writing by one or more of the monks to whom it was related, and several versions of it became current. Obviously the story has lost nothing in the telling.

Paphnutius undertook the pilgrimage in order to study the eremitic life and to discover whether he himself was called to lead it. For sixteen days after leaving his monastery he wandered in the desert, meeting with one or two strange and edifying adventures, but on the seventeenth day he was startled at the sight of what appeared to be an aged man with hair and beard falling to the ground, but covered with fur like an animal and wearing a loincloth of foliage. So alarming was the apparition that he began to run away. The figure, however, called after him, inviting him to return and assuring him that he also was a man and a servant of God. They entered into conversation and Paphnutius learned that the stranger’s name was Onuphrius, that he had once been a monk in a monastery of many brethren, but that he had felt a vocation for the solitary life which he had now led for seventy years. In reply to further questions he admitted that he had suffered severely from hunger and thirst, from extremes of temperature, and from violent temptations. Nevertheless God had given him consolation and had nourished him with the dates that grew on a palm-tree beside his cell. He then conducted Paphnutius to his cave, where they spent the rest of the day discoursing of heavenly things. At sunset some bread and water suddenly appeared before them and they were wonder­fully refreshed after partaking of this food. All that night they prayed together.

In the morning Paphnutius was distressed to see that a great change had come over his host, who was evidently at the point of death. But Onuphrius said, “Fear not, brother Paphnutius, for the Lord of His infinite mercy has sent you here to bury me.” To a suggestion made by Paphnutius that he should remain on in the cell after his host’s death, the aged hermit replied that God willed it otherwise. He then asked to be commended to the prayers and oblations of the faithful for whom he promised to intercede, and after having blessed Paphnutius he prostrated himself to the ground and gave up the ghost. His visitor made a shroud for him with half his tunic which he rent asunder. He then buried the old man in a cleft of the rock which he covered with stones. No sooner was this done than the cave crumbled and the date palm faded away, thus clearly indicating to Paphnutius that he was not intended to linger in that place.

It would not be difficult to compile a long bibliography of St Onuphrius. The Greek and Latin texts are indicated in BHG., nn. 1378—1382, and BHL., nn. 6334—6338, but a sufficient selection may be found in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii. There are also other oriental versions, notably in Coptic and Ethiopic. See, in particular, W. Till, Koptische Heiligen- und Martyrer-Legenden (1935) pp. 1419; E. A. Wallis Budge, Miscellaneous Coptic Texts (1955) ; W. E. Crum, “Discours de Pisenthios” in Revue de l’Orient chrétien, vol. x (1956), pp. 38—67. Although Pisenthios tells us nothing new about Onuphrius, his sermon shows that already, about A.D. 600, the feast was celebrated with solemnity. St Onuphrius has also been discussed at length in the essay of C. A. Williams, Oriental Affinities of the Legend of the Hairy Anchorite (Illinois Studies, vols. x and xi, 1926), but see the criticism in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlvii (1929), pp. 138—141. It does not seem that the popularity of the names Onfroi, Humfrey, and their derivatives in medieval. France and England was due to a cult of St Onuphrius introduced by crusaders: cf. E. G. Withycombe, Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (1950).
St Paphnutius, who led an ascetical life in the Thebaid desert in Egypt, has left us an account of St Onuphrius the Great and the Lives of other fourth century hermits: Timothy the Desert Dweller, the abbas Andrew, Charalampus, Theophilus, and others.
It occurred to St Paphnutius to go to the inner desert in order to see if there were a monk who labored for the Lord more than he did. He took a little bread and water and went into the most remote part of the desert. After four days he reached a cave and found in it the body of an Elder who had been dead for several years. Having buried the hermit, St Paphnutius went on farther. After several more days he found another cave, and from the marks in the sand he realized that the cave was inhabited. At sundown he saw a herd of buffalo and walking among them a man.
This man was naked, but was covered with long hair as if with clothing. This was Abba Timothy the Desert-Dweller.
Seeing a fellow man, Abba Timothy thought that he was seeing an apparition, and he began to pray. St Paphnutius finally convinced the hermit that he was actually a living man and a fellow Christian. Abba Timothy prepared food and water for him. He related that he had been living in the desert for thirty years, and that St Paphnutius was the first man he had seen. In his youth, Timothy had lived in a cenobitic monastery, but he wanted to live alone. Abba Timothy left his monastery and went to live near a city, sustaining himself by the work of his own hands (he was a weaver). Once a woman came to him with an order and he fell into sin with her. Having come to his senses, the fallen monk went far into the desert, where he patiently endured tribulation and sickness.
When he was at the point of dying from hunger, he received healing in a miraculous manner.
From that time Abba Timothy had lived peacefully in complete solitude, eating dates from the trees, and quenching his thirst with water from a spring. St Paphnutius besought the Elder that he might remain with him in the wilderness. But he was told that he would be unable to bear the demonic temptations which beset desert-dwellers. Instead, he supplied him with dates and water, and blessed him to go on his way.
Having rested at a desert monastery, St Paphnutius undertook a second journey into the innermost desert, hoping to find another holy ascetic who would profit his soul. He went on for seventeen days, until his supply of bread and water was exhausted. St Paphnutius collapsed twice from weakness, and an angel strengthened him.
On the seventeenth day St Paphnutius reached a hilly place and sat down to rest. Here he caught sight of a man approaching him, who was covered from head to foot with white hair and girded his loins with leaves of desert plants. The sight of the Elder frightened Abba Paphnutius, and he jumped up and fled up the hill. The Elder sat down at the foot of the hill. Lifting his head, he saw St Paphnutius, and called him to come down.
This was the great desert-dweller, Abba Onuphrius. At the request of St Paphnutius, he told him about himself.
St Onuphrius had lived in complete isolation in the wilds of the wilderness for sixty years. In his youth he had been raised at the Eratus monastery near the city of Hermopolis. Having learned from the holy Fathers about the hardships and lofty life of the desert-dwellers, to whom the Lord sent help through His angels, St Onuphrius longed to imitate their exploits. He secretly left the monastery one night and saw a brilliant ray of light before him.
St Onuphrius became frightened and decided to go back, but the voice of his Guardian Angel told him to go into the desert to serve the Lord.
After walking six or seven miles, he saw a cave. At that moment the ray of light vanished. In the cave was an old man. St Onuphrius stayed with him to learn of his manner of life and his struggle with demonic temptations. When the Elder was convinced that St Onuphrius had been enlightened somewhat, he then led him to another cave and left him there alone to struggle for the Lord. The Elder visited him once a year, until he fell asleep in the Lord.
At the request of St Paphnutius, Abba Onuphrius told him of his labors and ascetic feats, and of how the Lord had cared for him.
Near the cave where he lived was a date-palm tree and a spring of pure water issued forth. Twelve different branches of the palm tree bore fruit each month in succession, and so the monk endured neither hunger nor thirst. The shade of the palm tree sheltered him from the noonday heat.
An angel brought Holy Communion to the saint each Saturday and Sunday, and to the other desert-dwellers as well.
The monks conversed until evening, when Abba Paphnutius noticed a loaf of white bread lying between them, and also a vessel of water. After eating, he Elders spent the night in prayer. After the singing of the morning hymns, St Paphnutius saw that the face of the venerable Onuphrius had become transformed, and that frightened him. St Onuphrius said, "God, Who is Merciful to all, has sent you to me so that you might bury my body. Today I shall finish my earthly course and depart to my Christ, to live forever in eternal rest."
St Onuphrius then asked Abba Paphnutius to remember him to all the brethren, and to all Christians.
St Paphnutius wanted to remain there after the death of Abba Onuphrius.
However, the holy ascetic told him that it was not God's will for him to stay there, he was to return to his own monastery instead and tell everyone about the virtuous lives of the desert-dwellers. Having then blessed Abba Paphnutius and bid him farewell, St Onuphrius prayed with tears and sighs, and then he lay down upon the earth, uttering his final words,
"Into Thy hands, my God, I commend my spirit," and died.
St Paphnutius wept and tore off a portion of his garment, and with it covered the body of the great ascetic.
He placed it in the crevice of a large rock, which was hollow like a grave, and covered it over with a multitude of small stones. Then he began to pray that the Lord would permit him to remain in that place until the end of his life. Suddenly, the cave fell in, the palm tree withered, and the spring of water dried up. Realising that he had not been given a blessing to remain, St Paphnutius set out on his return journey.

After four days Abba Paphnutius reached a cave, where he met an ascetic, who had lived in the desert for more than 60 years.
Except for the two other Elders, with whom he labored, this monk had seen no one in all that time. Each week these three had gone on their solitary paths into the wilderness, and on Saturday and Sunday they gathered for psalmody, and ate the bread which an angel brought them. Since it was Saturday, they had gathered together. After eating the bread provided by the angel, they spent the whole night at prayer. As he was leaving, St Paphnutius asked the names of the Elders, but they said,
 "God, Who knows everything, also knows our names. Remember us, that we may see one another in God's heavenly habitations."
Continuing on his way, St Paphnutius came upon an oasis which impressed him with its beauty and abundance of fruit-bearing trees.
Four youths inhabiting this place came to him from out of the wilderness. The youths told Abba Paphnutius that in their childhood they had lived in the city of Oxyrhynchus (Upper Thebaid) and they had studied together. They had burned with the desire to devote their lives to God. Making their plans to go off into the desert, the young men left the city and after several days' journey, they reached this place.  A man radiant with heavenly glory met them and led them to a desert Elder. "We have lived here six years already," said the youths. "Our Elder dwelt here one year and then he died. Now we live here alone, we eat the fruit of the trees, and we have water from a spring." The youths gave him their names, they were Sts John, Andrew, Heraklemon and Theophilus (Dec. 2).  The youths struggled separately the whole week long, but on Saturday and Sunday they gathered at the oasis and offered up common prayer. On these days an angel would appear and commune them with the Holy Mysteries. This time however, for Abba Paphnutius' sake, they did not go off into the desert, but spent the whole week together at prayer. On the following Saturday and Sunday St Paphnutius together with the youths was granted to receive the Holy Mysteries from the hands of the angel and to hear these words, "Receive the Imperishable Food, unending bliss and life eternal, the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, our God."  St Paphnutius made bold to ask the angel for permission to remain in the desert to the end of his days. The angel replied that God had decreed another path for him. He was to return to Egypt and tell the Christians of the life of the desert-dwellers.
Having bid farewell to the youths, St Paphnutius reached the edge of the wilderness after a three day journey. Here he found a small skete, and the brethren received him with love. Abba Paphnutius related everything that he had learned about the holy Fathers whom he had encountered in the desert. The brethren wrote a detailed account of what St Paphnutius said, and deposited it in the church, where all who wished to do so could read it. St Paphnutius gave thanks to God, Who had granted him to learn about the exalted lives of the hermits of the Thebaid, and he returned to his own monastery.
599 St. Cominus Baithen Mor; Baithen the Great; Comin; Cominus Patron saint of Ardcavan, Ireland, abbot Part of Saint Columba's mission to Britain in 563
Born to a noble Irish family. Monk. Abbot of Tiree Island, Scotland. Part of Saint Columba's mission to Britain in 563, and may have been Columba's cousin. When Columba died, leadership of the group passed to Baithen. Biographer of Columba.
When Saint Baithen ate, before each bite he recited the prayer "Deus in adjutorium meum intende". When he worked the fields with the monks, he held up one hand to Heaven, beseeching God, while with the other hand he gathered the corn. A wise counsellor, his advice was sought by many Irish saints.
734  St. Peter of Mount Athos first hermit to reside upon Mount Athos in northern Greece; St Simeon touched his
staff to the chains binding St Peter, and the chains melted away like wax. Graced with a vision from Our Lady, he journeyed to Mount Athos and took up the life of a hermit, remaining there for half a century
St Peter of Mt. Athos
8th V. St Peter Of Mount Athos
Many years before any monastery had been built on Mount Athos in Macedonia a holy man named Peter lived as a solitary on its slopes. He is said to have been the first Christian hermit to settle in that district, but nothing is actually known of his history. His relics were taken after his death to the monastery of St Clement and from thence, in the tenth century, to Thrace, where his cultus was fostered. His legend as given by Gregory Palamas, archbishop of Thessalonica, resembles many other stories related in the Greek Menaia: it may be regarded as being of the nature of edifying fiction. In his youth, we read, Peter took up arms against the Saracens and was captured and imprisoned. But St Nicholas and St Simeon, to whom he appealed in his distress, came to his assistance: Simeon set him free, whilst Nicholas directed him on his way. Having thus regained his liberty he went to Rome, where St Nicholas introduced him to the pope, who gave him the monastic habit. He then embarked in a ship bound for Asia. Soon after they had started our Lady appeared to him in a vision and bade him spend the remainder of his life as a hermit on Mount Athos.

Accordingly, when they had left Crete the captain landed him near his objective and he entered upon a penitential life. Besides enduring many hardships he had to meet diabolical attacks. First he was assailed by legions of devils who mocked him, shot at him with arrows and pelted him with stones. He repelled them by the power of prayer. Afterwards they assumed the form of snakes which struck terror into his soul. But he prayed yet more fervently and they disappeared. Then Satan took the form of one of his former servants and begged him to return to the world, representing to him how greatly he was missed and how much good he might do to his neighbours. Greatly perturbed, Peter called upon our Lady, who responded by obliging the tempter to show himself in his true form and then to vanish. Finally the Evil One returned as an angel of light. Peter, however, overcame him by his humility. He said that he was unworthy to mix with his fellow men: much less could he expect to be visited by a celestial being. Conse­quently he refused to listen to the suggestion made to him by his supernatural guest. For fifty years he had lived on Mount Athos without seeing a human creature when at last he was discovered by a huntsman. To him the hermit told his story. Though the man wished to stay with him, Peter sent him back to his home, re­questing him to return in a year’s time. When the hunter, accompanied by a friend, kept the appointment twelve months later they found Peter’s dead body.

This is another example of a familiar type of pious fiction to which the legend of St Onuphrius (see above) also belongs. There are two Greek texts preserved to us (see BHG., nn. 1505—1506). But it would probably be going too far to treat Peter as an imaginary person who has never existed. C. A. Williams’s essay (in University of Illinois Studies, vol. xi, pp. 427—509) on “Oriental Affinities of the Legend of the Hairy Anchorite”, shows that he is very imperfectly grounded in Christian hagiography. A more reliable discussion of the story of Peter the Athonite is to be found in Kirsopp Lake, Early Days of Monasticism on Mount Athos (1909).
Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 12. Juni
Peter vom AthosDie legendenhaft ausgeschmückte Lebensgeschichte berichtet, daß Peter (Petrus) aus Griechenland stammte, Soldat in Konstantinopel war und 667 in einem Krieg gegen die Muslime gefangengenommen wurde. Er führte seine lange Gefangenschaft darauf zurück, daß er nicht in ein Kloster gegangen war, wie er es vorgehabt hatte und begann zu fasten und zu beten. Er wurde schließlich wundersam gerettet, reiste nach Rom und wurde hier vom Papst als Mönch eingekleidet. Er fuhr dann mit einem Schiff in das östliche Mittelmeer und ging im Jahr 681 an der Stelle, an der das Schiff stehenblieb, an Land. Hier, auf dem Berg Athos, lebte er 53 Jahre als Einsiedler. Erst kurz vor seinem Tod wurde er von einem Jäger entdeckt. Peter war der erste Einsiedler auf dem Berg Athos und damit Begründer der mönchischen Tradition auf diesem Berg.
Saint Peter of Athos, a Greek by birth, served as a soldier in the imperial armies and he lived at Constantinople. In the year 667, during a war with the Syrians, St Peter was taken captive and locked up in a fortress in the city of Samara on the Euphrates River.  For a long time he languished in prison and he pondered over which of his sins had brought God's chastisement upon him. St Peter remembered that once he had intended to leave the world and go to a monastery, but he had not done so. He began to observe a strict fast in the prison and to pray fervently, and he besought St Nicholas the Wonderworker to intercede before God for him.
St Nicholas appeared in a dream to Peter and advised him to call upon St Simeon the God-Receiver (Feb. 3) for help. St Nicholas appeared to him once more in a dream, encouraging the prisoner in patience and hope. The third time he appeared was not in a dream, but with St Simeon the God-Receiver. St Simeon touched his staff to the chains binding St Peter, and the chains melted away like wax. The doors of the prison opened, and St Peter was free.
St Simeon the God-Receiver became invisible, but St Nicholas conveyed St Peter to the borders of the Greek territory.
Reminding him of his vow, St Nicholas became invisible. St Peter then journeyed to Rome to receive monastic tonsure at the tomb of the Apostle Peter. Even here St Nicholas did not leave him without his help. He appeared in a dream to the Pope of Rome and informed him of the circumstances of St Peter's liberation from captivity, and he commanded the Pope to tonsure the former prisoner into monasticism.
On the following day, in the midst of a throng of the people who had gathered for divine services, the Pope loudly exclaimed, "Peter, you who are from the Greek lands, and whom St Nicholas has freed from prison in Samara, come here to me." St Peter stood in front of the Pope, who tonsured him into monasticism at the tomb of the Apostle Peter.
The Pope taught St Peter the rules of monastic life and kept the monk by him.
Then with a blessing, he sent St Peter to where God had appointed him to journey.

St Peter boarded a ship sailing to the East. The shipowners, after going ashore, besought St Peter to come and pray at a certain house, where the owner and all the household lay sick.
St Peter healed them through his prayer.
The Most Holy Theotokos appeared in a dream to St Peter and indicated the place where he should live til the very end of his days: Mount Athos.
When the ship arrived at Athos, it then halted of its own accord. St Peter realized that this was the place he was meant to go, and so he went ashore. This was in the year 681. Peter then dwelt in the desolate places of the Holy Mountain, not seeing another person for fifty-three years. His clothing had become tattered, but his hair and beard had grown out and covered his body in place of clothes.
At first St Peter was repeatedly subjected to demonic assaults.
Trying to force the saint to abandon his cave, the demons sometimes took on the form of armed soldiers, and at other times of fierce beasts and vipers that seemed ready to tear the hermit apart. St Peter overcame the demonic attacks through fervent prayer to God and His Holy Mother. Then the enemy resorted to trickery. Appearing under the guise of a lad sent to him from his native home, he besought the monk with tears to leave the wilderness and return to his own home. The saint wept, but without hesitation he answered,
"Here have the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos led me. I will not leave here without Her permission."
Hearing the Name of the Mother of God, the demon vanished.

After seven years the devil came to St Peter in the guise of a radiant angel and said that God was commanding him to go into the world for the enlightenment and salvation of people in need of his guidance. The experienced ascetic again replied that without the permission of the Mother of God he would not forsake the wilderness. The devil disappeared and did not bother to come near the saint anymore. The Mother of God appeared to St Peter in a dream with St Nicholas and told the brave hermit that after he had fasted for forty days, an angel would bring him heavenly manna.
St Peter fasted, and on the fortieth day he fortified himself with the heavenly manna, receiving the strength for another forty-day fast.
Once, a hunter chasing after a stag saw the naked man, covered with hair and girded about the loins with leaves. He was afraid and was about to flee, but St Peter stopped him and told him of his life. The hunter asked to remain with him, but the saint sent him home. St Peter gave the hunter a year for self-examination and forbade him to tell anyone about meeting him.  A year later the hunter returned with his brother, who was afflicted with a demon, and several other companions. When they entered the St Peter's cave, they saw that he had already reposed. The hunter, with bitter tears, told his companions of the life of St Peter. His brother, after merely touching the saint's body, received healing. St Peter died in the year 734. His holy relics were on Athos at the monastery of St Clement. During the Iconoclast period the relics were hidden away, and in the year 969 they were transferred to the Thracian village of Photokami.
St Peter once saw the Mother of God in a vision, and she spoke of Her earthly domain, Mount Athos: "I have chosen this mountain... and have received it from My Son and God as an inheritance, for those who wish to forsake worldly cares and strife.... Exceedingly do I love this place. I will aid those who come to dwell here and who labor for God... and keep His commandments.... I will lighten their afflictions and labors, and shall be an invincible ally for the monks, invisibly guiding and guarding them...."
Generations of Orthodox monks can attest to the truth of these words. The Mother of God is regarded as the Abbess of the Holy Mountain, not just in name, but in actual fact.
For this reason, Mt. Athos is known as the "Garden of the Theotokos."
Peter, originally a soldier was captured by the Muslims and imprisoned until released through the intervention of St. Simeon. He then went to Rome and was granted the monastic habit by the pope himself. Graced with a vision from Our Lady, he journeyed to Mount Athos and took up the life of a hermit, remaining there for half a century. He overcame severe trials and temptations, including assaults by the devil. He is considered the first hermit to reside upon Mount Athos, sparking the tradition which culminated in the foundation of the great monasteries upon that Holy Mountain.
816 Leo III, Pope On Christmas Day Leo crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in Saint Peter's Basilica. This was the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, an attempt to realize Saint Augustine's ideal of the City of God, which profoundly affected European history for many centuries
Romæ, in Basílica Vaticána, sancti Leónis Papæ Tértii, cui erútos ab ímpiis óculos et præcísam linguam Deus mirabíliter restítuit.
    At Rome, in the Vatican basilica, Pope St. Leo III, to whom God miraculously restored his eyes and his tongue after they had been torn out by impious men.
 (RM) Born in Rome, Italy; died June 12, 816; canonized 1673.
816 ST LEO III, POPE
ON the very day after the death of Pope Adrian I the electors proceeded to appoint his successor. Their unanimous choice was the cardinal-priest of St Susanna, and on the morrow, December 27, 795, he was consecrated and enthroned as Leo III. But there was in Rome a faction bitterly hostile to the new pope, mostly turbulent young nobles led by Pope Adrian’s disappointed nephew and another ambitious official. In 799 they hatched a plot to render Leo incapable of carrying out his pontifical duties. As he was riding in the St Mark’s day procession a band of these conspirators attacked him outside the church of St Silvester, dragged him from his horse, tried to blind him and to cut out his tongue, and left him nearly senseless. That he should have recovered so quickly and completely from his hurts as he did was regarded as nothing short of a miracle.

For a time Leo took refuge with the king of the Franks, Charlemagne, who was then at Paderborn; and on his return to Rome, where he was received with great rejoicing, a commission examined the circumstances of the attempt on his person. The promoters of it retorted by making such serious charges against the pope that the commissioners felt bound to refer them to Charlemagne. And a few months later the king came to Rome. On December 1 a synod was assembled in the Vatican basilica at which he was present and Leo’s accusers were invited to appear. They did not do so; but in spite of this nolle prosequi it was considered desirable that Leo should take an oath of innocence of the charges made. This he did on December 23 before the same assembly.

On Christmas day, during Mass in St Peter’s, Pope Leo solemnly crowned Charlemagne as he knelt before the confessio of the Apostle; the congregation applauded, the choir acclaimed Charles—“Long life and triumph to Charles, the most religious augustus, crowned by God, the great and peace-loving emperor of the Romans”—and the pope knelt and did his temporal homage. Thus was inaugurated the Holy Roman empire of the West, which was hailed by some of the noblest minds of that and later ages as the realization of the ideal set forth by St Augustine in his De civitate Dei. This spectacular happening, fraught with such far-reaching results, has been surrounded by a good deal of mystification, some of it unnceessary. But it is a matter of general history, civil and ecclesiastical, and need not be considered here.

To St Leo his alliance with the monarch was of great benefit. Not only did it enable him to regain some of the patrimony of the Roman church and to keep at bay the turbulent elements in the papal states, but it also enabled him to intervene successfully in foreign disputes and to enforce ecclesiastical discipline in more distant lands. But when the emperor attempted to trespass into the field of dogma and pressed him to introduce the clause “And the Son” (Filioque) into the Nicene Creed, Leo refused. He would not hastily and at the bidding of the secular power admit innovations—however doctrinally true—into the liturgy, and he did not wish to alienate his Byzantine children, whose importance he never underrated.

As long as Charlemagne lived St Leo was able to maintain order, but after the emperor’s death in 814 troubles immediately broke out. The Saracens descended on the coasts of Italy, and in Rome there was another plot to murder the pope. By the time order had been restored it was evident that Leo’s health had given way; and on June 12, 816, he died after a pontificate of twenty years. His name was added to the Roman Martyrology in 1673.
The pontificate of St Leo III belongs very largely to general history. There seems to be nothing in the nature of an early biography beyond what may be read in the Liber Ponti­ficalis (ed. Duchesne, vol. ii, pp. 1—34). A certain number of the letters of this pope are extant, in particular his more important communications addressed to Charlemagne. There is an account, based upon these materials and upon extracts from the later chroniclers, in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii. But, for the English reader, the most satisfactory source of information is Mgr Mann’s Lives of the Popes, vol. ii (1906), pp. 1—110, in which will also be found an adequate bibliography. Mgr Duchesne’s work, Les premiers temps de l’état pontifical (1904), deserves special notice ; and among more recent works see, in particular, K. Heldmann, Das Kaisertum Karls d. Gr. (1928), and in the Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia, vol. (1923), pp. 107—119, an article of C. Huelsen on the Life of Leo III in the Liber Pontificalis.

Son of Atypius and Elizabeth, Leo was chief of the pontifical treasury or wardrobe (vestiarius) and a cardinal-priest of Santa Susanna when he was elected pope on the day his predecessor, Hadrian I, was buried, December 26, 795. Hadrian's two nephews both hoped to be made pope themselves. In 799, they incited a gang of young nobles to attack Leo. On Saint Mark's day Leo was riding in a procession when these roughs dragged him from his horse, tried to cut out his tongue and attempted to blind him. Leo escaped to the monastery of Saint Erasmus with the help of the duke of Spoleto. There he recovered quickly, miraculously according to some.
Leo enlisted the help of the most powerful layman of the age, Charlemagne, who was at Paderborn. Charlemagne provided troops a few months later to guard the pope as he journeyed from Paderborn back to Rome, where he entered the city amid rejoicing.  His enemies, however, did not rest. They accused Leo of perjury and adultery. In 800, Charlemagne came to Rome and appointed learned commissioners to examine whether any fault in Leo could account for the attacks made on him. The convened synod found none. Leo took an oath that he was innocent of any of the charges before the assembled bishops.
On Christmas Day Leo crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in Saint Peter's Basilica. This was the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, an attempt to realize Saint Augustine's ideal of the City of God, which profoundly affected European history for many centuries. On this alliance was founded the unity of medieval Christendom; but opinions vary about the precise significance of the coronation and whether pope or emperor gained most from it in authority and protection. Nevertheless, Leo and the emperor now worked side by side to resolve quarrels throughout the Holy Roman Empire, and to combat the spread of Islam.
In 804, Leo visited the emperor and came to an agreement with him about the division of the empire among Charlemagne's sons. Leo formally agreed to it two years later. With Charlemagne's help Adoptionism was fought in Spain, but when Charlemagne wanted the expression Filioque ("and the Son") added to the Nicene Creed, Leo refused, in part because he would not permit secular interference in ecclesiastical affairs, and in part because he did not wish to offend the Byzantine Church.  Generally, the two acted in concert. They settled the dispute between Canterbury and York (see under Saint Wilfrid). In the quarrel between Archbishop Wilfrid and King Cenulf of Mercia, Leo intervened, suspended the archbishop, and put the kingdom under interdict. After the death of Offa, who had requested that Pope Hadrian create a metropolitan at Lichfield, Leo restored Canterbury to its former status in 803.
At the suggestion of Charlemagne, Leo also created a fleet to combat the Saracens, recovered some of the Church's patrimony in Gaeta with the emperor's help, and was the beneficiary of much treasure from him. Charlemagne's bounty permitted Leo to restore many churches both in Rome and Ravenna, help the poor, and patronize the arts.
When Charlemagne died in 814 and Leo's protection was gone, his enemies again rose against him. He crushed one conspiracy by executing the ringleader, and another revolt by the nobles of Campagna, who planned to march on Rome, was suppressed by the duke of Spoleto. The saint died two years after his great ally, Charlemagne (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
Pope Saint Leo is generally depicted in art as he crowns Charlemagne [Grandes Chroniques de France, 14th century) (Roeder). A restored, near-contemporary mosaic survives in the Lateran depicting Saint Peter giving the pallium to Leo and a standard to Charlemagne (Farmer). Another image from the Grandes Chroniques de France illustrates the Torture of Leo III.
Pope St. Leo III
Date of birth unknown; died 816. He was elected on the very day his predecessor was buried (26 Dec., 795), and consecrated on the following day. It is quite possible that this haste may have been due to a desire on the part of the Romans to anticipate any interference of the Franks with their freedom of election. Leo was a Roman, the son of Atyuppius and Elizabeth. At the time of his election he was Cardinal-Priest of St. Susanna, and seemingly also vestiarius, or chief of the pontifical treasury, or wardrobe. With the letter informing Charlemagne that he had been unanimously elected pope, Leo sent him the keys of the confession of St. Peter, and the standard of the city. This he did to show that he regarded the Frankish king as the protector of the Holy See. In return he received from Charlemagne letters of congratulation and a great part of the treasure which the king had captured from the Avars. The acquisition of this wealth was one of the causes which enabled Leo to be such a great benefactor to the churches and charitable institutions of Rome.
Prompted by jealousy or ambition, or by feelings of hatred and revenge, a number of the relatives of Pope Adrian I formed a plot to render Leo unfit to hold his sacred office. On the occasion of the procession of the Greater Litanies (25 April, 799), when the pope was making his way towards the Flaminian Gate, he was suddenly attacked by a body of armed men. He was dashed to the ground, and an effort was made to root out his tongue and tear out his eyes. After he had been left for a time bleeding in the street, he was hurried off at night to the monastery of St. Erasmus on the Cœlian. There, in what seemed quite a miraculous manner, he recovered the full use of his eyes and tongue. Escaping from the monastery, he betook himself to Charlemagne, accompanied by many of the Romans. He was received by the Frankish king with the greatest honour at Paderborn, although his enemies had filled the king's ears with malicious accusations against him. After a few months' stay in Germany, the Frankish monarch caused him to be escorted back to Rome, where he was received with every demonstration of joy by the whole populace, natives and foreigners. The pope's enemies were then tried by Charlemagne's envoys and, being unable to establish either Leo's guilt or their own innocence, were sent as prisoners to France (Frankland). In the following year (800) Charlemagne himself came to Rome, and the pope and his accusers were brought face to face. The assembled bishops declared that they had no right to judge the pope; but Leo of his own free will, in order, as he said, to dissipate any suspicions in men's minds, declared on oath that he was wholly guiltless of the charges which had been brought against him. At his special request the death sentence which had been passed upon his principal enemies was commuted into a sentence of exile.
A few days later, Leo and Charlemagne again met. It was on Christmas Day in St. Peter's. After the Gospel had been sung, the pope approached Charlemagne, who was kneeling before the Confession of St. Peter, and placed a crown upon his head. The assembled multitude at once made the basilica ring with the shout: "To Charles, the most pious Augustus, crowned by God, to our great and pacific emperor life and victory!" By this act was revived the Empire in the West, and, in theory, at least, the world was declared by the Church subject to one temporal head, as Christ had made it subject to one spiritual head. It was understood that the first duty of the new emperor was to be the protector of the Roman Church and of Christendom against the heathen. With a view to combining the East and West under the effective rule of Charlemagne, Leo strove to further the project of a marriage between him and the Eastern empress Irene. Her deposition, however (801), prevented the realization of this excellent plan. Some three years after the departure of Charlemagne from Rome (801), Leo again crossed the Alps to see him (804). According to some he went to discuss with the emperor the division of his territories between his sons. At any rate, two years later, he was invited to give his assent to the emperor's provisions for the said partition. Equally while acting in harmony with the pope, Charlemagne combatted the heresy of Adoptionism which had arisen in Spain; but he went somewhat further than his spiritual guide when he wished to bring about the general insertion of the Filioque in the Nicene Creed. The two were, however, acting together when Salzburg was made the metropolitical city for Bavaria, and when Fortunatus of Grado was compensated for the loss of his see of Grado by the gift of that of Pola. The joint action of the pope and the emperor was felt even in England. Through it Eardulf of Northumbria recovered his kingdom, and the dispute between Eanbald, Archbishop of York, and Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, was regulated.
Leo had, however, many relations with England solely on his own account. By his command the synod of Beccanceld (or Clovesho, 803), condemned the appointing of laymen as superiors of monasteries. In accordance with the wishes of Ethelheard, Archbishop of Canterbury, Leo excommunicated Eadbert Praen for seizing the throne of Kent, and withdrew the pallium which had been granted to Litchfield, authorizing the restoration of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the See of Canterbury "just as St. Gregory the Apostle and Master of the nation of the English had arranged it". Leo was also called upon to intervene in the quarrels between Archbishop Wulfred and Cenulf, King of Mercia. Very little is known of the real causes of the misunderstandings between them, but, whoever was the more to blame, the archbishop seems to have had the more to suffer. The king appears to have induced the pope to suspend him from the exercise of his episcopal functions, and to keep the kingdom under a kind of interdict for a period of six years. Till the hour of his death (822), greed of gold caused Cenulf to continue his persecution of the archbishop. It also caused him to persecute the monastery of Abingdon, and it was not until he had received from its abbot a large sum of money that, acting, as he declared, at the request of "the lord Apostolic and most glorious Pope Leo", he decreed the inviolability of the monastery.
During the pontificate of Leo, the Church of Constantinople was in a state of unrest. The monks, who at this period were flourishing under the guidance of such men as St. Theodore the Studite, were suspicious of what they conceived to be the lax principles of their patriarch Tarasius, and were in vigorous opposition to the evil conduct of their emperor Constantine VI. To be free to marry Theodota, their sovereign had divorced his wife Maria. Though Tarasius condemned the conduct of Constantine, still, to avoid greater evils, he refused, to the profound disgust of the monks, to excommunicate him. For their condemnation of his new marriage Constantine punished the monks with imprisonment and exile. In their distress the monks turned for help to Leo, as they did when they were maltreated for opposing the arbitrary reinstatement of the priest whom Tarasius had degraded for marrying Constantine to Theodota. The pope replied, not merely with words of praise and encouragement, but also by the dispatch of rich presents; and, after Michael I came to the Byzantine throne, he ratified the treaty between him and Charlemagne which was to secure peace for East and West.
Not only in the last mentioned transaction, but in all matters of importance, did the pope and the Frankish emperor act in concert. It was on Charlemagne's advice that, to ward off the savage raids of the Saracens, Leo maintained a fleet, and caused his coast line to be regularly patrolled by his ships of war. But because he did not feel competent to keep the Moslem pirates out of Corsica, he entrusted the guarding of it to the emperor. Supported by Charlemagne, he was able to recover some of the patrimonies of the Roman Church in the neighbourhood of Gaeta, and again to administer them through his rectors. But when the great emperor died (28 Jan., 814), evil times once more broke on Leo. Af fresh conspiracy was formed against him, but on this occasion the pope was apprised of it before it came to a head. He caused the chief conspirators to be seized and executed. No sooner had this plot been crushed than a number of nobles of the Campagna rose in arms and plundered the country. They were preparing to march on Rome itself, when they were overpowered by the Duke of Spoleto, acting under the orders of the King of Italy (Langobardia). The large sums of money which Charlemagne gave to the papal treasury enabled Leo to become an efficient helper of the poor and a patron of art, and to renovate the churches, not only of Rome, but even of Ravenna. He employed the imperishable art of mosaic not merely to portray the political relationship between Charlemagne and himself, but chiefly to decorate the churches, especially his titular church of St. Susanna. Up to the end of the sixteenth century a figure of Leo in mosaic was to be seen in that ancient church.
Leo III was buried in St. Peter's (12 June, 816), where his relics are to be found along with those of Sts. Leo I, Leo II, and Leo IV. He was canonized in 1673. The silver denarii of Leo III still extant bear the name of the Frankish emperor upon them as well as that of Leo, showing thereby the emperor as the protector of the Church, and overlord of the city of Rome.
 885 St. Gerebald Bishop of Chalons sur Seine, France, from 864 until his death.  
855 St. Odulf Augustinian canon established a church among the Frisians and founded a monastery at Stavoren.
Also Odulphus, an Augustinian canon. Born in Oorsch, North Brabant, he was named a canon of Utrecht and received ordination before taking part in the missionary enterprise in Friesland being undertaken by Bishop St. Frederick of Utrecht. Odulf established a church among the Frisians and founded a monastery at Stavoren. He died at Utrecht. His relics were stolen in 1034, but were eventually taken to London and placed at Evesham.
855 St Odulf
The most successful of the missionaries who helped St Frederick to complete the evangelization of Friesland was undoubtedly St Odulf; churches dedicated to him are still to be found in Holland and Belgium. He was born at Oorschot in North Brabant, and after his ordination he had charge of his native town; but after­wards he transferred to Utrecht, where he attracted the favourable notice of St Frederick, bishop of the diocese. His eloquence as a preacher as well as his learning induced Frederick to send him to Friesland, the inhabitants of which were only partially converted. There St Odulf spent many years labouring with great fruit. According to the old chronicler he converted his hearers by reiterated instructions—preaching to the people and leading them into the way of truth through frequent admonitions, arguments, and rebukes, “until the men who had formerly been, as it were, ferocious wolves, had been transformed by sound doctrine into peaceable sheep”. Although he worked in all parts of the Zaanland, his headquarters were at Stavoren; there he had his church, and there he founded a monastery. In spite of invitations to return to his own country, he persevered in his missionary work until he was very old. He then returned to Utrecht, where he died about the year 855. His body disappeared from its shrine, probably in a raid by the Northmen, and seems to have been taken to England and to have found a resting-place at Evesham Abbey, in the year 1034.

At the beginning of the thirteenth century, a most unpleasant story was some­how copied into an English manuscript (Rawlinson A 287, in the Bodleian) which contains the Chronicle of Evesham. It is there narrated that St Odulf when in Friesland, and himself in the act of offering Mass at Eastertide, was admonished by an angel to make all haste and go aboard a ship, because his friend St Frederick had fallen into a terrible sin, but was nevertheless purporting to offer the Holy Sacrifice. The ship was wafted to Utrecht with inconceivable rapidity, and Odulf was in time to warn his friend, to hear his confession, and to celebrate Mass in his stead. Then Frederick disappeared for ten years to do strenuous penance, and St Odulf meanwhile took his place as bishop. At the end of the ten years, Frederick, now a model of every virtue, resumed his episcopal duties and in the end died famous for the miracles he had wrought. There is not, of course, a shadow of foundation for this in sober history, but the insertion of such a piece of scandal affords a curious illustration of the medieval tendency to cherish every story which chronicled the failings of the great.

The not very reliable life of St Odulf printed in the Acta Sanctorum; June, vol. iii, has also been partly edited in Pertz, MGH., Scriptores, vol. xv, pp. 356—358. See also Macray, Chronicle of Evesham (Rolls Series), pp. 313—320; and Stanton, English Menology, pp. 265—267.
Odulf of Stavoren, OSA (AC) (also known as Odulphus) Born in Oorschot, Brabant; died in Utrecht, June 12, c. 855; feasts of his translations on October 10 and November 24. In his youth, Odulf was remarkable both for his intelligence and his piety. He was ordained a priest and appointed canon of Utrecht by Saint Frederick. A few years later Frederick sent him to evangelize the partially converted Frisians. He founded a church and monastery of Augustinian canons at Stavoren, which became his center of operations for many years. He retired to Utrecht, where his body was enshrined and his cultus grew after his death. Many churches are dedicated to him in both the Netherlands and Belgium.
His relics are said to have been stolen in 1034 by Viking pirates and taken to London. Bishop Aelfward of London bought them for a huge sum and gave them to Evesham Abbey, which he still governed. A later Norman abbot, Walter, tried to move them to Winchcombe, but the shrine became so heavy as they continued toward their destination that they had to turn back; it became light as a feather the closer they got to Evesham. Another time, Queen Edith tried to take some of Odulf's relics for her private collection, and was blinded. Thus, says the chronicler, Odulf demonstrated his desire to remain at Evesham. Unfortunately, these are probably not Odulf's relics. They were supposedly stolen from Stavoren, while the Utrecht tradition says they have never been translated from their original burial spot there (Benedictines, Farmer). In art, Saint Odulf is an Augustinian canon with a bowl for baptizing in his hand (Roeder).
10th v. John-Tornike Eristavi (a Georgian title, meaning literally “head of the army.” a perfect example of humility. He renounced his own will completely and would do nothing without a blessing from his spiritual father. “I entrust myself and my will to you. Save me according to your will!”
An eristavi was the ruler or governor of his province and a pillar of the Georgian monarchy. During certain periods of Georgian history the title was hereditary. The title is equivalent to a European duke. Later, John of Mt. Athos was a Georgian army commander famed for his victories in war and a favorite of King David Kuropalates. Eventually he abandoned his worldly glory and set off in search of his spiritual father, St. John, on Mt. Olympus. There he learned that St. John had moved to Mt. Athos, so he journeyed there and settled with him in a monastery headed by St. Athanasius the Athonite. He was tonsured a monk and given the new name John.
Soon many Georgians became thirsty for the ascetic life and arrived to labor on the Holy Mountain. To serve the young community, St. John built a church in honor of St. John the Theologian and constructed cells nearby. In such a way, the first Georgian community on Mt. Athos was established.
At that time, Bardas Sclerus, commander of the army of Asia Minor, led a revolt against Basil and Constantine, the young Byzantine emperors. The dowager empress Theophania, hoping to receive assistance from Georgia, requested that John-Tornike travel to his homeland, inform the king about the difficult situation in Byzantium, and rally the Georgian armies for support. At first John-Tornike refused, doubting his preparedness to return to life in the world. But after the other brothers pleaded with him and he received St. Athanasius’ blessing, he returned to Georgia and delivered Theophania’s letter to King David Kuropalates. The king was overjoyed at the sight of his favorite military leader, and he consented to the empress’ request, provided John-Tornike would command the army. The king was resolute and John-Tornike was compelled to honor his will. With God’s help and under the wise leadership of John-Tornike, twelve thousand Georgian soldiers defeated the army of the godless Bardas Sclerus, banishing the conspirator from Byzantium (ca. 979).
After this great victory John-Tornike returned immediately to Mt. Athos. The brothers met him with great joy and gave thanks to God for returning him safely to the monastery.
St. John-Tornike was a perfect example of humility. He renounced his own will completely and would do nothing without a blessing from his spiritual father. “I entrust myself and my will to you. Save me according to your will!” he would tell St. John.
The brothers of the monastery often asked John-Tornike to recount his military glories, and he was obliged to recall his past. Once St. John requested that he share his memories with a certain Elder Gabriel, a man who spoke not a single vain word. John-Tornike agreed, and after he had narrated his glorious past to the elder, he ceased speaking entirely. He spent the rest of his life in silence, hoping in God, and reposed peacefully.
1080 Eskil (Eskill) bishop of Strangnäss remains were exposed to the veneration of the faithful, and were honored with miracles BM (AC) feast day formerly June 13.
1080 St Eskil, Bishop And Martyr
The name of St Eskil does not appear in the Roman Martyrology, but until the Reformation he was honoured in northern Europe as one of the most illustrious martyrs of Scandinavia. He was said to be English, a kinsman of St Sigfrid, whom he accompanied on his mission to reconvert Sweden which had almost entirely lapsed into paganism since the death of St Anskar, its first apostle, in the ninth century. He was consecrated bishop at Strängnäs, and from that circum­stance later writers have described him as bishop of Strängnäs; but the see was not founded until 1245, and Eskil was probably a regionary bishop. He laboured with success in Södermanland, making many converts during the reign of King Inge, who encouraged and supported the missionaries. Inge, however, was murdered, and under Sweyn the Bloody a pagan reaction set in. A great heathen festival was held at Strängnäs which was attended by many who had professed to be Christians:  St Eskil hastened to the assembly and appealed to the people to abandon their pagan rites. Finding them deaf to his remonstrances he is said to have appealed to God to give a visible sign that He alone was the true God. Instantly a violent storm arose which destroyed the altar and its sacrifice, while sparing the bishop and his attendants. The pagans ascribed this wonder to magic and by the king’s orders they stoned the saint to death. The place where his body was laid in 1082 is called after him, Eskilstuna.
There are two medieval lives (neither very satisfactory), both of which may be found in Scriptores rerum Suecicarum, vol. ii, part i, pp. 389—404. See also the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii, and especially S. Lindquist, Den helige Eskils biskopsdöme (1915), and Toni Schmid, in Scandia, vol. iv (1931), pp. 102—114. A short English account is in C. J. A. Oppermann, English Missionaries in Sweden (1937), pp. 103—111; but on this book see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lvii (1939), pp. 162—164.
Eskil is said to have been an Englishman and a relative of Saint Sigfrid, whom he accompanied on the latter's mission to reconvert Sweden, whose people had returned to paganism following the death of Saint Ansgar. Sigfrid consecrated him bishop of Strangnäss. Eskil preached the Gospel with some success in Södermanland, until the heathens reacted after the murder of the friendly king Inge. Then, because he had protested against an idolatrous festival and called down a violent storm that destroyed a pagan altar and its sacrifices, he was stoned to death by the people at Strangnäss. His body was buried on the spot where he died. Within a short time a church was built there in which his sacred remains were exposed to the veneration of the faithful, and were honored with miracles. Prior to the Reformation, Saint Eskil was greatly honored in Sweden, and the place where he was buried, Eskilstuna, was named after him (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
7th v. St. Cuniald & Geslar Confessors. 
1138 St. Chirstian Bishop and brother of St. Malachy of Armagh. His Celtic name was Croistan O'Morgair. In 1126, Christian was named the bishop of Clogher, in Ireland.
1175 St. Marinus, Vimius, & Zimius The “Three Holy Exiles’ They were Benedictines at the Scottish St. James Abbey in Regensburg, Germany. They became hermits at Griestatten.
1298 Blessed Jolenta (Yolanda) of Poland daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary. Her sister, St. Kunigunde miracles, down to our own day, occurr at her grave
1299 BD JOLENTA OF HUNGARY, WIDOW
JOLENTA, or Helena as she is called by the Poles, was one of four sisters who are honoured with the title of Blessed. They were the daughters of Bela IV, King of Hungary, the nieces of St Elizabeth, the great-nieces of St Hedwig, and lineal descendants of the Hungarian kings St Stephen and St Ladislaus.
   When she was five years old, Jolenta was committed to the care of her elder sister, Bd Cunegund, or Kinga, who had married Boleslaus II, King of Poland. Under their fostering care, the little girl grew up a pattern of virtue. She became the wife of Duke Boleslaus of Kalisz, with whom she spent a happy married life. Both of them were addicted to good works, and together they made various religious foundations. Jolenta was beloved by all, but especially by the poor, for whom she had a tender love. After the death of her husband, as soon as she had settled two of her daughters, she retired with the third and with Bd Cunegund, now, like herself, a widow, into the convent of Poor Clares which Cunegund had established at Sandeck. Jolenta's later years, however, were spent at Gnesen as superior of the convent of which she had been the foundress. She died there in 1299.

See J. B. Prileszky, Acta Sanctorum Hungariae, vol. ii, Appendix, pp. 54-55; Hueber, Menologium Franciscanum, p. 918; and cf. the bibliography attached to Bd Cunegund on July 24.
She was married to the Duke of Poland. Jolenta was sent to Poland where her sister was to supervise her education. Eventually married to Boleslaus, the Duke of Greater Poland, Jolenta was able to use her material means to assist the poor, the sick, widows and orphans. Her husband joined her in building hospitals, convents and churches so that he was surnamed "the Pious."
Upon the death of her husband and the marriage of two of her daughters, Jolenta and her third daughter entered the convent of the Poor Clares. War forced Jolenta to move to another convent where, despite her reluctance, she was made abbess.
So well did she serve her Franciscan sisters by word and example that her fame and good works continued to spread beyond the walls of the cloister. Her favorite devotion was the Passion of Christ. Indeed, Jesus appeared to her, telling her of her coming death. Many miracles, down to our own day, are said to have occurred at her grave.
Comment: Jolenta’s story begins like a fairy tale. But fairy tales seldom include the death of the prince and never end with the princess living out her days in a convent. Nonetheless, Jolenta’s story has a happy ending. Her life of charity toward the poor and devotion to her Franciscan sisters indeed brought her to a “happily ever after.” Our lives may be short on fairy-tale elements, but our generosity and our willingness to serve well the people we live with lead us toward an ending happier than we can imagine.
1447 Saint Arsenius of Konevits a native of Novgorod, coppersmith by trade tonsure at the Lisich monastery near Novgorod, where he spent eleven years went to Mount Athos in 1373, and there he spent three years, dwelling in prayer and making copper vessels for the brethren.  In the year 1393, St Arsenius returned to Russia and brought with him an icon of the Mother of God, which was later called the Konevits Icon. St Arsenius went with this icon to the island of Konevets on Lake Ladoga, where he spent five years in solitude.
In 1398, with the blessing of Archbishop John of Novgorod, St Arsenius laid the foundations of a cenobitic monastery dedicated to the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. He visited Athos a second time, and asked the holy Fathers for their prayers and a blessing for his monastery.  In 1421 the lake flooded, destroying the monastery structures. This forced St Arsenius to relocate the monastery to a new site on the island. St Arsenius died in 1447, and was buried in the monastery church. His Life was written in the sixteenth century by Igumen Barlaam of Konevits.
The Life of Saint Arsenius was published in 1850, together with the Service and Akathist in his honor

Konevets Island (Finnish: Kononsaari) has the maximum length of 5 km; its average width is 2 km. The island is separated from the mainland by a 5-km-wide strait. In the Middle Ages, the island was considered holy by the Finnish tribes who particularly revered a huge boulder in the shape of a horse's skull, weighing more than 750 tons. This boulder is known as Kon'-Kamen' (literally, "Steed-Stone") and gives its name to the island.
The monastery was founded around 1393 by St. Arseny Konevsky, who wished to convert pagan Finns to Christianity. The location of the monastery was changed several times, in order to avert floods. The cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos was founded by St. Arseny in 1428. The Swedes captured the island during the Ingrian War, forcing the monks to retreat to Novgorod. Only after Russia retook the territory in the course of the Great Northern War they were allowed to reclaim their ancient possessions in Konevets. The revived cloister depended upon Novgorod until 1760, when it was officially recognized as a separate monastic establishment. In 1812, after the Finnish War the monastery administratively became part of the newly-formed Grand Duchy of Finland, along with the rest of "Old Finland".
The golden age of the monastery came with the 19th century, when its fame spread to the imperial capital and the island was frequented by eminent visitors from Saint Petersburg, including Alexandre Dumas and Fyodor Tyutchev. As a consequence of its high profile, the monastic community could fund extensive building projects, starting with the construction of a new cathedral in 1800-09. This huge two-storey eight-pillared building was designed by a local starets. It is surmounted by five octagonal drums bearing five blue bud-shaped domes. The same style is applied to the three-storey belltower (1810-12), rising to the height of 35 meters. Two sketae were set up to mark the ancient locations of the monastery.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the monastery passed to the newly independent Finland, and came under the jurisdiction of the autonomous Finnish Orthodox Church. The island was fortified by the
Konevets_Theotokos_Valamo_Monastery_Finland_Front_Back
Finnish military. During the Winter War and Continuation War the monastery buildings were damaged. On 13 March 1940 the monks escaped from the Soviets to Finland, taking the holy icon with them, but leaving the iconostasis, church bells, and the library. The monks subsequently joined the monks escaping from the Valaam Monastery and founded the New Valamo Monastery in Finland.
During the Soviet period, the monastery housed a military unit. In 1990 it became one of the first monasteries in the region to be revived by the Russian Orthodox Church. In November 1991, the brethren announced the discovery of St. Arseny's relics, that apparently had been hidden from the Swedes in 1573. By 2004, the Konevsky Monastery, which hosts a large number of tourists and pilgrims, had been mostly restored.

1450 Bd Stephen Bandelli; doctor of canon law, University of Pavia professorship, honoured as a saint and a wonder-worker;

One of the most successful preachers of the Dominican Order in the first half of the fifteenth century was Friar Stephen Bandelli. He was born in 1369 in northern Italy, and received the Dominican habit at Piacenza. His piety and obedience were an inspiration to his brethren, while his learning obtained for him the degree of doctor of canon law and a professorship in the University of Pavia. But it was in the pulpit and in the confessional that he specially shone. Wherever he preached, in Liguria and elsewhere, crowds assembled to hear him, and innumerable sinners were converted from the error of their ways. He died at the age of eighty-one at Saluzzo, in the diocese of Turin, and was honoured as a saint and a wonder-worker. Thirty-seven years after his death, when Saluzzo was surrounded by a hostile force, strange forms appeared in the sky, which were held to be those of our Lady and Bd Stephen; the enemy withdrew without laying siege to the town, and the people of Saluzzo, in gratitude to Bd Stephen, instituted an annual procession in his honour. Pope Pius IX. confirmed his ancient cultus in 1856.

See Seeböck, Die Herrlichkeit der Katholischen Kirche, pp. 127 seq. Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 174-175; Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus O.P.
1463 St. John of Sahagun educated by the Benedictine monks of Fagondez monastery there and when twenty, received a canonry from the bishop of Burgos Augustinian friar  famous for his miracles, and had the gift of reading men's souls
Sancti Joánnis a sancto Facúndo, ex Eremitárum sancti Augustíni Ordine, Confessóris, qui migrávit in cælum prídie hujus diéi. 
St. John of St. Facundus, confessor of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, who died on the 11th of June.

1479 St John of Sahagun; granted to behold with bodily eyes the human form of our Lord at the moment of consecration; was glorified by many miracles, both before and after his death.
There was an early Spanish martyr named Facundus, and he seems to have been adopted as patron by the abbey of Sahagun or San Fagondez in the kingdom of Leon. This locality was the birthplace of this John, and from it he derives his distinctive surname. His early education he received from the monks in the Benedictine monastery just mentioned. While he was yet a boy, his father, Don Juan Gonzalez de Castrillo, procured for him a small benefice, and when he was twenty the bishop of Burgos gave him a canonry in his cathedral, although the abbot of San Fagondez had already presented him with three other livings. Pluralism was one of the chief abuses of the age, but was leniently regarded in many quarters as being a necessary evil in view of the alleged meagreness of many stipends. John from his early youth led a moral, upright life—exemplary in the eyes of ordinary Christians—but as he grew older he was led by divine grace to see much that was imperfect in his conduct and to set himself seriously to amend.

He had received the priesthood in 1445, and his conscience reproached him for disobeying the Church’s ordinances against pluralities. He accordingly resigned all his benefices except the chapel of St Agatha in Burgos. There he daily cele­brated Mass, frequently catechized the ignorant, and preached, leading the while a very mortified life in evangelical poverty. Realizing the necessity for a sounder knowledge of theology, he then obtained the bishop’s permission to go to Salamanca University, where he studied for four years.

His course completed, he soon won a great reputation as a preacher and director of souls in the parish of St Sebastian, Salamanca, which he seems to have worked while holding one of the chaplaincies in the College of St Bartholomew. Nine years were thus spent, and then St John, faced with the ordeal of a severe operation, vowed that if his life were spared he would receive the religious habit. The operation having proved successful, he made his application to the superior of the local com­munity of Augustinian friars, who admitted him with alacrity, for his merits were known to all. A year later, on August 28, 1464, he was professed. He had already so fully acquired the spirit of his rule that no one in the convent was more mortified, more obedient, more humble or more detached than he. He spoke with such eloquence and fervour that his sermons, coupled with his private exhortations, produced a com­plete reformation of manners in Salamanca. He had a wonderful gift for healing dissensions and succeeded in ending many of the feuds which were the bane of society, especially amongst the young nobles. Not only did he induce his penitents to for­give injuries and to forego revenge, but he led many of them to return good for evil.

Soon after his profession St John was appointed novice-master, an office he discharged with great wisdom. Seven times in succession he was definitor and he also became prior of Salamanca. It was a house which was famous for its discipline, and that discipline St John maintained far more by his example than by severity, for the high opinion everyone had of his sanctity lent the greatest weight to his advice and admonitions. He was, moreover, endowed with a judicious discernment and with a remarkable gift for reading the thoughts of his penitents. He heard the confessions of all who presented themselves, but was rigid in refusing, or at least deferring, absolution in the case of habitual sinners, or of ecclesiastics who did not live in accordance with the spirit of their profession. His fervour in offering the divine sacrifice edified all present, although his superior sometimes reproved him for the length of time he took in celebrating Mass. We are also told that he was one of those to whom it has been granted to behold with bodily eyes the human form of our Lord at the moment of consecration. The graces he received in his prayers and communions also gave him courage and eloquence in the pulpit. Without respect of persons he reproved vice in high places with a vigour which sometimes drew upon him persecution and even physical violence.

A sermon at Alba, in the course of which he sternly denounced rich landlords who oppressed their poor tenants, so enraged the Duke of Alba that he sent two assassins to kill the bold preacher. In the presence of their intended victim, however, the men were struck with remorse, confessed their errand and humbly implored his forgiveness. On another occasion certain women of the city whose loose life he had reproved attempted to stone him, and were only prevented from causing him grievous injury by the appearance of a patrol of archers. A prominent personage whose unblushing association with a woman not his wife was causing grave scandal in Salamanca was induced by St John to sever the connection entirely. The woman vowed vengeance on the holy man and it was generally believed that the disorder of which he died was occasioned by poison administered at her instiga­tion. He passed away on June 11, 1479. He was glorified by many miracles, both before and after his death, and was canonized in 1690.

The most reliable source for the life of St John of Sahagun is an account written by John of Seville in the form of letters addressed to Duke Gonsalvo of Cordova. They have been translated into Latin from the original Spanish, and are printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii. The Bollandists have also collected a certain amount of information from other later writers. There is also a summary written about a hundred years after the death of St John by his fellow Augustinian, the famous preacher, Bd Alphonsus d’Orozco. It will be found printed in M. Vidal, Agustinos de Salamanca, vol. i (1751), pp. 51 seq. The best modern life seems to be that by T. Camara (1891) in Spanish. Seventeenth-century lives in Spanish and French are numerous; several are mentioned in U. Chevalier’s Bio-Bibliographie.
John Gonzales de Castrillo was born at Sahagun, Leon Spain. He was educated by the Benedictine monks of Fagondez monastery there and when twenty, received a canonry from the bishop of Burgos, though he already had several benefices. He was ordained in 1445; concerned about the evil of pluralism, he resigned all his benefices except that of St. Agatha in Burgos. He spent the next four years studying at the University of Salamanca and then began to preach. In the next decade he achieved a great reputation as a preacher and spiritual director, but after recovering after a serious operation, became an Augustinian friar in 1463 and was professed the following year. He served as master of novices, definitor, prior at Salamanca, experienced visions, was famous for his miracles, and had the gift of reading men's souls. He denounced evil in high places and several attempts were made on his life. He died at Sahagun on June 11, reportedly poisoned by the mistress of a man he had convinced to leave her. He was canonized in 1690 as St. John of Sahagun.
John of Sahagun, OSA (RM) (also known as John of Saint Facundo) Born at Sahagun, León, Spain, c. 1430 (?); died in Salamanca, June 11, 1479; beatified in 1601; canonized in 1690.
Saint John was educated by the Benedictines at the great abbey of his native Sahagun (from Sant'Facun). While he was still a boy, his father, Don Juan Gonzalez de Castrillo, procured for him a small benefice. The bishop of Burgos and the abbot of Sahagun gave him four other benefices by the time he was 20, because his family was influential and these leaders recognized a promise of greatest in John. Thus, when John was ordained in 1453, he held five benefices in Burgos at the same time without holding residence in any of them--two acts of disobedience to Church ordinances. Instead he was majordomo in the household of the bishop.
Repenting of such pluralism upon the bishop's death, he gave up all but the one assigned to the chapel of Saint Agnes in Burgos, where he celebrated the Eucharist daily, catechized the ignorant, and preached. He had converted his life to one of evangelical poverty. With this benefice John financed his theological studies at the University of Salamanca. The education he received there gave him the confidence he need to minister more effectively in the nearby parish of Saint Sebastian, while holding a chaplaincy in the College of Saint Bartholomew.
At that time Salamanca was deeply divided and crime-ridden, which gave John ample opportunity to preach reconciliation and conversion. He followed up his preaching with individual counselling in the confessional. John had a remarkable gift for reading souls, which drew still more to his confessional. He was rigid in refusing or deferring absolution to habitual sinners and ecclesiastics who did not live in accordance with the spirit of their profession. John's fervor in offering the Mass edified all who assisted. In fact, it is related that he was privileged to see the bodily form of Jesus at the moment of consecration. The grace God poured into his soul during his prayers and communions overflowed into his preaching--especially against vice in high places.
After a grave illness in 1463, he requested entry into the Augustinian friary in the same city and was professed on August 28, 1464. Soon after he undertook the office of novice-master, while continuing his public preaching. His work for reconciliation bore fruit: a pact of peace was signed by hostile parties in 1476. About that time he was elected prior by his community.
In 1479, John predicted his own death, which occurred the same year. At Alba de Tormes his life was threatened by two thugs hired by the duke because of his public denunciation of oppressive landlords. In John's presence, however, the would-be assassins were struck with remorse, confessed their errand, and begged his forgiveness. But John's preaching brought further rancor. It is said that John's death was hastened by poisoning, brought about by a woman in Salamanca whose paramour he had reformed.
By his fearless preaching, John effected profound change in the social life of Salamanca; for this he won the popular acclamation of apostle of Salamanca. Soon after his death, miracles and pilgrimages occurred at his tomb. His relics survive in a feretory in the cathedral of his adopted city of which he is patron. In art, he is portrayed with a host in his hand in memory of his devotion to the Eucharist (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Walsh).
1542 Monk Stephen of Ozersk and Komel'sk led a strict life granted to see the MostHoly Virgin and Saint Nicholas, who besought the Mother of God to bless Saint Stephen to establish a monastery. In the year 1534 the Monk Stephen built a church in the name of Saint Nicholas
Born in the latter half of the XV Century in the Vologda lands. His father served at the prince's court, but the mundane life was not for the soul of the youth. He went off to the Glushitsk monastery of the Monk Dionysii, where he soon accepted monastic tonsure. With the blessing of the Glushitsk hegumen, the Monk Stephen made the rounds of the northern monasteries, in order to discover the spiritual customs. Having returned to the Vologda lands, he settled near the source of the River Komela. The Monk Stephen led a strict life. Once during the time of tearful prayer the monk was granted to see the MostHoly Virgin and Saint Nicholas, who besought the Mother of God to bless Saint Stephen to establish a monastery. In the year 1534 the Monk Stephen built a church in the name of Saint Nicholas. The monk reposed peacefully in the year 1542.
1592 Saint Onuphrius of Mala and Pskov [Izborsk] founded a monastery in honor of the Nativity of the Mother of God at Mala, four versts from Izborsk and 56 versts from Pskov
The saint died on June 12, 1592 and was buried in the Nativity church, in a chapel named for him.
The memory of St Onuphrius is also celebrated on the so-called "Malsk Sunday," the first Sunday after the Peter and Paul Fast.
1626 Blessed Louis Naisen a seven year old Japanese boy, son of Blessed John and Monica Naisen. He was beheaded in Nagasaki (Benedictines). M (AC)
Born in 1619; beatified in 1867.
  1650 Anna of Kashin died on October 2, 1338. The Holy Right- Believing Princess; solemn transfer of her relics from the wooden Dormition cathedral into the stone Resurrection church took place on June 12, 1650;  many miracles took place at her tomb; A Church council decided to glorify the holy Princess Anna as a saint, and her holy relics were uncovered on July 21, 1649. The solemn transfer of her relics from the wooden Dormition cathedral into the stone Resurrection church took place on June 12, 1650.
In 1677 Patriarch Joachim proposed to the Moscow Council that the veneration of St Anna of Kashin (October 2) throughout Russia should be discontinued because of the Old Believers Schism, which made use of the name of St Anna of Kashin for its own purposes. When she was buried her hand had been positioned to make the Sign of the Cross with two fingers, rather than three. Therefore, only local veneration of St Anna was permitted.
However, the memory of St Anna, who had received a crown of glory from Christ, could not be erased by decree. People continued to love and venerate her, and many miracles took place at her tomb.
On June 12, 1909 her second glorification took place, and her universally observed Feast day was established. Her Life describes her as a model of spiritual beauty and chastity, and an example to future generations.
1894 St. Cunera A British virgin venerated in Germany.
1971 Blessed Manuel Lozano Garrido
Also known as Lolo (nickname) Memorial 3 November
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Joined Catholic Action at age 11. As a teenager during the Spanish Civil War he visited prisoners and would sneak them Holy Communion; he developed a strong devotion to the Eucharist and spent a Holy Thursday in prison alone with a Host hidden in some flowers. Lifelong layman, and a working journalist in the diocese of Jaén, Spain. In 1942 he contracted spondylitis, and a slow paralysis began to set in; a year later was confined to a wheelchair, a condition that would last the rest of his life. He lost his sight in 1962; when he lost use of his right hand, he learned to write with his left; when it became paralyzed, he dictated his work to his sister. Though he progressively lost use of his body, he worked for newspapers, Catholic periodicals and the Associated Press, founded the magazine Sinai, won the prestigious Bravo award for journalism in 1969, and wrote nine books on spirituality.

Born 9 August 1920 in Linares, Jaén, Spain
Died 3 November 1971 in Linares, Jaén, Spain of natural causes
Venerated 17 December 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified 12 June 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI
recognition to be celebrated in Linares, Jaén, Spain, presided by Archbishop Angelo Amato



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 42

How long, O Lady, wilt thou forget me and not deliver me in the day of tribulation ?

How long will my enemy be exalted above me? By the might of thy strength do thou crush him.

Open the eyes of thy mercy: lest our enemy prevail against us.

We magnify thee, the finder of grace, by whom the ages of the world are restored.

Thou art exalted above the choirs of angels: pray for us before the throne of God.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

Rejoice, ye Heavens, and be glad, O Earth: because Mary will console her servants and will have mercy on her poor.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning and will always be.

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints htmIndulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines  
India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
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1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him
For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.

Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.

O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian.
 
In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides.  Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.
Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.
Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.
After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.
Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life.  But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA)
1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.
801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).  Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186).  She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching.  As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director.  She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222).  A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid.  The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind.  She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca:  "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God.  She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker.  Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219).  During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?'  I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them.  I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me?  Is it not God Who wills it?  When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will?  It is not  well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic.  It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187).  She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world.  A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill.  Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"  (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold.  She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him.  And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance.  She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did.  For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself.  The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other.  When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from.  "From that other world," she said.  "And where are you going?" she was asked.  "To that other world," she replied (219).  She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end.  Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love.  In this quest, logic and reason were powerless.  Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition.  Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved.  Through this communion, she could discover His will for her.  Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul."  [224]

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about
The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament
Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; A very Holy Man of God.
Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
 
Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN
America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World
August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation
by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908
James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932
James M. Reardon Publication  History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement
1362-1950 (1952);

The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;
  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgence Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary
spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the
life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 
It Makes No Sense
Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress—a battle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God—total collapse, economic, social, and national. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man. Life begins at conception. This is an unalterable formal teaching of the Catholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plain English. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000 abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide by definition. The group singled out for death—unwanted, unborn children.

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.

As we watch the spectacle of the world seeming to self-destruct before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened and even frightened by so much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It is all a disaster of epic proportions displayed in living color on our television screens.  These are not ordinary times and this is not business as usual. We are at a crossroads in human history and the time for Catholics and all Christians to act is now. All evil can ultimately be traced to its origin, which is moral evil. All of the political action, peace talks, international peacekeeping forces, etc. will avail nothing if the underlying sickness is not addressed. This is sin. One person at a time hearts and minds must be moved from evil to good, from lies to truth, from violence to peace.
Islam, an Arabic word that has often been defined as “to make peace,” seems like a living contradiction today. Islam is a religion of peace.  As we celebrate the birthday of Our Lady, I am proposing that each one of us pray the Rosary for peace. Prayer is what must precede all other activity if that activity is to have any chance of success. Pray for peace, pray the Rosary every day without fail.  There is a great love for Mary among Muslim people. It is not a coincidence that a little village named Fatima is where God chose to have His Mother appear in the twentieth century. Our Lady’s name appears no less than thirty times in the Koran. No other woman’s name is mentioned, not even that of Mohammed’s daughter, Fatima. In the Koran Our Lady is described as “Virgin, ever Virgin.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen prophetically spoke of the resurgence of Islam in our day. He said it would be through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Islam would be converted. We must pray for this to happen quickly if we are to avert a horrible time of suffering for this poor, sinful world. Turn to our Mother in this time of great peril. Pray the Rosary every day. Then, and only then will there be peace, when the hearts and minds of men are changed from the inside.
Talk is weak. Prayer is strong. Pray!  God bless you, Father John Corapi

Father Corapi's Biography

Father John Corapi is what has commonly been called a late vocation. In other words, he came to the priesthood other than a young man. He was 44 years old when he was ordained. From small town boy to the Vietnam era US Army, from successful businessman in Las Vegas and Hollywood to drug addicted and homeless, to religious life and ordination to the priesthood by Pope John Paul II, to a life as a preacher of the Gospel who has reached millions with the simple message that God's Name is Mercy!

Father Corapi's academic credentials are quite extensive. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University in the seventies. Then as an older man returned to the university classrooms in preparation for his life as a priest and preacher. He received all of his academic credentials for the Church with honors: a Masters degree in Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles Seminary and Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre in Spain.

Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12). 
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

About Father John Corapi.
Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .
The pillars of father's preaching are basically:
Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary 
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


Records on life of Father Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, presented at Vatican
Jul 23, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The cause for canonization of Servant of God Edward Flanagan, the priest who founded Nebraska's Boys Town community for orphans and other boys, advanced Monday with the presentation of a summary of records on his life.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen to be beatified
Jul 6, 2019 - 04:00 am .- Pope Francis approved the miracle attributed to Archbishop Fulton Sheen Friday, making possible the American television catechist's beatification.

Brooklyn diocese advances sainthood cause of local priest
Jun 25, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The Bishop of Brooklyn accepted last week the findings of a nine-year diocesan investigation into the life of Monsignor Bernard John Quinn, known for fighting bigotry and serving the African American population, as part of his cause for canonization.

Fr. Augustus Tolton, former African American slave, advances toward sainthood
Jun 12, 2019 - 05:03 am .- Fr. Augustus Tolton advanced along the path to sainthood Wednesday, making the runaway slave-turned-priest one step closer to being the first black American saint.

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

Seven 20th-century Romanian bishops declared martyrs
Mar 19, 2019 - 12:01 pm .- Pope Francis declared Tuesday the martyrdom of seven Greek-Catholic bishops killed by the communist regime in Romania in the mid-20th century.

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Algerian martyrs to be beatified in December
Sep 14, 2018 - 06:01 pm .- The Algerian bishops' conference has announced that the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in the country between 1994 and 1996, will be held Dec. 8.

Now a cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu heads to congregation for saints' causes
Jun 28, 2018 - 11:41 am .- Newly-minted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will resign from his post as substitute of the Secretariat of State tomorrow, in anticipation of his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints later this summer.

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

Records on life of Father Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, presented at Vatican
Jul 23, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The cause for canonization of Servant of God Edward Flanagan, the priest who founded Nebraska's Boys Town community for orphans and other boys, advanced Monday with the presentation of a summary of records on his life.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen to be beatified
Jul 6, 2019 - 04:00 am .- Pope Francis approved the miracle attributed to Archbishop Fulton Sheen Friday, making possible the American television catechist's beatification.

Brooklyn diocese advances sainthood cause of local priest
Jun 25, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The Bishop of Brooklyn accepted last week the findings of a nine-year diocesan investigation into the life of Monsignor Bernard John Quinn, known for fighting bigotry and serving the African American population, as part of his cause for canonization.

Fr. Augustus Tolton, former African American slave, advances toward sainthood
Jun 12, 2019 - 05:03 am .- Fr. Augustus Tolton advanced along the path to sainthood Wednesday, making the runaway slave-turned-priest one step closer to being the first black American saint.

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

Seven 20th-century Romanian bishops declared martyrs
Mar 19, 2019 - 12:01 pm .- Pope Francis declared Tuesday the martyrdom of seven Greek-Catholic bishops killed by the communist regime in Romania in the mid-20th century.

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Algerian martyrs to be beatified in December
Sep 14, 2018 - 06:01 pm .- The Algerian bishops' conference has announced that the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in the country between 1994 and 1996, will be held Dec. 8.

Now a cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu heads to congregation for saints' causes
Jun 28, 2018 - 11:41 am .- Newly-minted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will resign from his post as substitute of the Secretariat of State tomorrow, in anticipation of his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints later this summer.

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

8 Martyrs Move Closer to Sainthood 8 July, 2016
Posted by ZENIT Staff on 8 July, 2016

The angel appears to Saint Monica
This morning, Pope Francis received Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato. During the audience, he authorized the promulgation of decrees concerning the following causes:

***
MIRACLES:
Miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Luis Antonio Rosa Ormières, priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Guardian Angel; born July 4, 1809 and died on Jan. 16, 1890
MARTYRDOM:
Servants of God Antonio Arribas Hortigüela and 6 Companions, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; killed in hatred of the Faith, Sept. 29, 1936
Servant of God Josef Mayr-Nusser, a layman; killed in hatred of the Faith, Feb. 24, 1945
HEROIC VIRTUE:

Servant of God Alfonse Gallegos of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Titular Bishop of Sasabe, auxiliary of Sacramento; born Feb. 20, 1931 and died Oct. 6, 1991
Servant of God Rafael Sánchez García, diocesan priest; born June 14, 1911 and died on Aug. 8, 1973
Servant of God Andrés García Acosta, professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor; born Jan. 10, 1800 and died Jan. 14, 1853
Servant of God Joseph Marchetti, professed priest of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles; born Oct. 3, 1869 and died Dec. 14, 1896
Servant of God Giacomo Viale, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, pastor of Bordighera; born Feb. 28, 1830 and died April 16, 1912
Servant of God Maria Pia of the Cross (née Maddalena Notari), foundress of the Congregation of Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Eucharist; born Dec. 2, 1847 and died on July 1, 1919
Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims

CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The Pope also recognized the heroic virtues of several religious/lay men and women from Italy, Spain, France & Mexico.
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky is considered to be one of the most influential 20th century figures in the history of the Ukrainian Church.
Enthroned as Metropolitan of Lviv in 1901, Archbishop Sheptytsky was arrested shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 by the Russians. After his imprisonment in several prisons in Russia and the Ukraine, the Archbishop was released in 1918.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic prelate was also an ardent supporter of the Jewish community in Ukraine, going so far as to learn Hebrew to better communicate with them. He also was a vocal protestor against atrocities committed by the Nazis, evidenced in his pastoral letter, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." He was also known to harbor thousands of Jews in his residence and in Greek Catholic monasteries.
Following his death in 1944, his cause for canonization was opened in 1958.
* * *
The Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees regarding the heroic virtues of:
- Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, O.S.B.M., major archbishop of Leopolis of the Ukrainians, metropolitan of Halyc (1865-1944);
- Servant of God Giuseppe Carraro, Bishop of Verona, Italy (1899-1980);
- Servant of God Agustin Ramirez Barba, Mexican diocesan priest and founder of the Servants of the Lord of Mercy (1881-1967);
- Servant of God Simpliciano della Nativita (ne Aniello Francesco Saverio Maresca), Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts (1827-1898);
- Servant of God Maria del Refugio Aguilar y Torres del Cancino, Mexican founder of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1866-1937);
- Servant of God Marie-Charlotte Dupouy Bordes (Marie-Teresa), French professed religious of the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1873-1953);
- Servant of God Elisa Miceli, Italian founder of the Rural Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1904-1976);
- Servant of God Isabel Mendez Herrero (Isabel of Mary Immaculate), Spanish professed nun of the Servants of St. Joseph (1924-1953)
October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

MARTYRDOM
- Servant of God Valentin Palencia Marquina, Spanish diocesan priest, killed in hatred of the faith in Suances, Spain in 1937;

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).
March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

– Blessed Manuel González García, bishop of Palencia, Spain, founder of the Eucharistic Missionaries of Nazareth (1877-1940);
– Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity (née Elisabeth Catez), French professed religious of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (1880-1906);
– Venerable Servant of God Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus (né Henri Grialou), French professed priest of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, founder of the Secular Institute “Notre-Dame de Vie” (1894-1967);
– Venerable Servant of God María Antonia of St. Joseph (née María Antonio de Paz y Figueroa), Argentine founder of the Beaterio of the Spiritual Exercise of Buenos Aires (1730-1799);
HEROIC VIRTUE

– Servant of God Stefano Ferrando, Italian professed priest of the Salesians, bishop of Shillong, India, founder of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians (1895-1978);
– Servant of God Enrico Battista Stanislao Verjus, Italian professed priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, coadjutor of the apostolic vicariate of New Guinea (1860-1892);
– Servant of God Giovanni Battista Quilici, Italian diocesan priest, founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Crucified (1791-1844);
– Servant of God Bernardo Mattio, Italian diocesan priest (1845-1914);
– Servant of God Quirico Pignalberi, Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1891-1982);
– Servant of God Teodora Campostrini, Italian founder of the Minim Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Sorrows (1788-1860);
– Servant of God Bianca Piccolomini Clementini, Italian founder of the Company of St. Angela Merici di Siena (1875-1959);
– Servant of God María Nieves of the Holy Family (née María Nieves Sánchez y Fernández), Spanish professed religious of the Daughters of Mary of the Pious Schools (1900-1978).

April 26 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Here is the full list of decrees approved by the Pope:

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Pasqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
Marian shrines
May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related
Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, PSALTER  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 42 2022